As user services increase continuously, a licensed spectrum particularly allocated to an operator or a radio access technology for use gradually cannot meet a requirement for the increase of the user services. However, an unlicensed spectrum has relatively broad spectrum bandwidth, and may provide a service for the continuously increasing user services.
When an unlicensed spectrum is used, an access device sends a time segment used to indicate that the time segment is reserved for the access device to perform, by using the unlicensed spectrum, data transmission. After receiving the time segment sent by the access device, other access devices do not perform, by using the unlicensed spectrum, data transmission in the time segment of the unlicensed spectrum, so as to avoid interference generated by using the same unlicensed spectrum in the same time segment.
However, the foregoing technical solution fails to effectively use the unlicensed spectrum, thereby causing a waste of resources.